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Obama signs sequestration order; what's next for feds?

By
Jack Moore

President Barack Obama officially put the sequestration order into effect Friday
night, as was required under the law. Agencies will now be forced to deal with $85
billion in automatic budget cuts this year.

In addition to signing the order, the Office of Management and Budget also
released a sequestration report,
outlining, more specifically, where cuts would come from across government
agencies.

The cuts will lop about 5 percent from civilian agencies and 8 percent from the
Defense Department's top line.

So, what happens now?

Agencies prepping for cuts

Over the past few months, the Office of Management and Budget has issued a handful
of guidance, directing agencies how to prepare for and implement the cuts.

Earlier this week, OMB issued a memo on
sequestration life, directing agencies to take even more specific steps to prepare
for life under sequestration.

Danny Werfel, the Office of Management and Budget's controller, told agency and
department heads to exercise "increased scrutiny" on discretionary bonuses, new
hiring, training, and conference and travel spending.

Agencies must also begin making decisions about which contracts and grants they
need to cancel, let expire or re-scope, he wrote.

Finally, agencies must nail down specifics on employee furloughs: Which employees
will be targeted? How many days will they need to be furloughed? When will notices
be sent? And, when will the actual furloughs go into effect? Federal News Radio is
following the latest on agency-by-agency furloughs in our Sequestration Tracker.

The Obama administration's top leaders have painted increasingly dire pictures of
how the budget cuts could lead to reduced staff levels, imperiling everything from
food inspections and air-traffic safety to border patrols.

But on many of the specifics — such as just how many civilian employees will
be furloughed across the federal government — there is still a great deal of
uncertainty.

Even though the cuts are now upon federal workers, the administration either
doesn't know the full impact on the workforce — or isn't saying. As of last
Friday, OMB said it was still crunching the numbers as to how many non-DoD employees will
face furloughs because of sequestration.

Furlough fears

For federal employees, the most direct threat from the budget cuts is the
likelihood of employee furloughs. But feds shouldn't expect pink slips
immediately.

The American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury
Employees Union say most agencies are still in the beginning stages of
negotiations.

So, early April is likely the earliest federal employees will be told to stay home
without pay.

Meantime, here's what we do know about specific agencies:

The Defense Department plans to furlough nearly all of its 780,000-
member civilian workforce on a one-day-per-week basis. In addition, the military
services and defense agencies have instituted civilian hiring freezes.

DoD's furlough plan is similar to what many civilian agencies have described. Some
are pursuing one-day-per-pay-period (every two weeks) furloughs, such as the
Internal Revenue Service. Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, in
a note to staff Thursday, told
employees the furlough days — likely a total of five to seven — would
start in the summer after tax-filing season ends.

According to local AFGE officials, the Environmental Protection Agency, in addition to one-day-per-pay-period furloughs, is also considering a few
mandatory agencywide furlough
days that would effectively shut the agency down.

But not all agencies say the furloughs will affect them.

In a message to staff, the acting commissioner of the Social Security
Administration, Carolyn Colvin, said by restricting hiring, limiting
overtime and reducing agency travel, the agency plans to continue operating under
sequestration without furloughs.

By law, VA activities and military pay are exempt from the sequester cuts.

Congressional stalemate

Congress and the White House remain at odds on a sequestration solution.

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders met at the White House Friday. The meeting
lasted less than one hour and both sides emerged pointing fingers at the other.

In the run-up to Friday, Democratic and Republican lawmakers introduced various alternatives to the
cuts, but the measures stalled and the stalemate was expected to continue.